Hazelnut Florentines

A abundance of baking items leftover from the holidays has me in search of ways to use up some perishables lest they spoil. Decided to use this opportunity to begin testing some recipes for next season's holiday trays. This is an adaptation of a cookie from the "Little Guide" series. Like tuiles (see Almond Tuiles), Florentines are delicate buttery crisp wafers with finely chopped nuts. Their advantage is they do not require a long chilling time before the batter can be baked off. You can drizzle these with any kind of chocolate (white, dark or milk) accord to your preferences. Just a caution, the dough spreads considerably in baking so only make cookies 5 or 6 per sheet.

• Ready In: 30 mins
• Serves: 36
• Yields: 3 dozen

Ingredients

•  cooking spray
• 1⁄4 cup sugar
• 1⁄4 cup sweet butter, melted
• 1  teaspoon  mild molasses
• 2  teaspoons light corn syrup
• 1  tablespoon milk
• 1⁄4 cup toasted hazelnuts, ground
• 1⁄4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1⁄3-1⁄2 cup  semi-sweet chocolate chips or 1⁄3-1⁄2 cup  milk chocolate chips or 1⁄3-1⁄2 cup white chocolate chips

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. Line a baking sheet with foil and apply a light coating of cooking spray to the foil. As an alternative, a Silpat sheet work quite well.
3. In a medium mixing bowl, combine the melted butter, sugar, molasses and milk. (Lazy chef's tip: you can also mix the batter in the saucepan or bowl used to melt the butter).
4. Mix in in the ground hazelnuts and flour.
5. Drop scant teaspoons of batter onto the prepared sheets leaving 3 to 5 inches between each drop. Your drops should be smaller than a quarter.
6. Bake for 5 or 6 minutes until the cookie until the cookie a deep golden hue and has a lace like appearance where the butter has melted off. Remove tray from oven and let cool until set, about 1 or 2 minutes. Remove from tray and place on a cooling rack. If your cookies are still soft at this point, they are not quite cooked and you can return them to the oven for another minute.
7. To decorate the cookies, melt the chocolate according to your favorite method. Drizzle on cookies.
8. (Melting tip: With small quantities of chocolate, you can place the chips in a small heavy duty storage bag and force the chips to one corner. Submerge the sealed bad in a cup of boiling water for 20 to 30 seconds and remove. Knead the softened chips into a liquid. If if needs additional melting, return the bag to the water bath. Once the right consistency is achieved, snip the corner and drizzle).